The legislative power in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on three bodies: Majlis (Islamic Consultative Assembly), the Guardian Council and the Nation's Exigency Council. The Islamic Consultative Assembly has two fundamental functions: legislation and supervision over the power structure. When we speak about the nature and quality of the role of Majlis in Iran's FOREIGN RELATIONS, there are two points: the conceptual separation between FOREIGN RELATIONS and FOREIGN policy; the triangle of the process of decision-making, decision-taking and the state's passive acceptance of decisions. Generally it seems the Islamic Republic of Iran has FOREIGN RELATIONS, not FOREIGN policy in the international system. So there is a state of passive compliance with the political decisions of other states. Iran has little active and offensive participation in the field of FOREIGN RELATIONS. This general characteristic in the system of the constitutional law of Iran has given rise to the emergence of passive, inoffensive, disfunctional, and unequal functions for Majlis in the atmosphere of Iran's FOREIGN RELATIONS. Since "FOREIGN RELATIONS" is a complex entity interlocked with security indices, Islamic Consultative Assembly has not been able to depart from its generalistic role and proceed to a specific one, thus not having an important part in the field of decision making in FOREIGN RELATIONS. Adopting a passive position, Majlis has acquired five roles and functions in Iran's FOREIGN RELATIONS: justification, acceptance, ratification, postponement, and acceleration of the decisions of other institutions.

Ghaznavids as the first government with Turkish race was established in the middle of the fourteh century in Iran. This dynasty was a very long-lasting dynasty and in two different era during 351 till 431 and from 431 till 582 took 230 years. During the existence of this government, different historic, political, fainancial, social and military events happened with neighboring governments and Abbasids government. This article tries to investigate whether decision making and having RELATIONS between this government and other neighboring governments is affected by domestic issues or paternizing (regarding this issue) and factors out of government structure (Abbasids caliphate or neighboring government) or both would be effective. By considering this issue various variables like relation between Abbasids government with other neighboring governments affecting each other have been considered. The results of this study is significant in understanding various effective factors between governments during middle history of Iran before Mongol attack.

Understanding the policymaking processes of the United States, as a global superpower, is of critical importance. Think tanks are among the most influential behind-the-scenes actors in this arena, having increasingly attracted the attention of researchers and U.S. FOREIGN policy experts. The Council on FOREIGN RELATIONS (CFR) is an old, powerful, and impactful think tank that has been active for over a century. This paper addresses the following question: What role has the Council on FOREIGN RELATIONS played in shaping the FOREIGN policy doctrines of the United States? To answer this question, the study analyses and evaluates two major U.S. Cold War strategies concerning their interactions with the two major powers, the Soviet Union and China. The research employs a library-based methodology for data collection. The findings indicate that the Council on FOREIGN RELATIONS has played a prominent role in shaping U.S. FOREIGN policy, particularly during the Cold War. Its influence was exercised through several key mechanisms: forming study groups, publishing the journal FOREIGN Affairs, generating policy-influencing ideas, mobilising public opinion, educating future government officials, recruiting retired personnel, organising deliberative meetings, and mediating between different political factions, government officials, and the public.

Iran is a unique actor with specific behaviors in the international system. The paper's main question is what are the main elements of Iranian exceptionalism and what are its effects on Iran’s FOREIGN RELATIONS? To answer the question, mixed methodology, a combination of interpretive method and directed qualitative content analysis, has been utilized to interpret Iran's outstanding political and thought figures throughout history. Besides, a conceptual framework has been adopted based on the late Morteza Motahari’s viewpoint on Worldview. The findings of the paper demonstrate that crucial principles of Iranian Exceptionalism are: the “Centrality of Iran in the World”, “Representing the God on earth”, “Ideal king/leader idea”, and “ Believing in the eternal triumph of the Good (Iran) against the Evil (Its enemies)”, “Necessity of Empowerment”, and “ Heavenly mission to lead other nations”. These specific characteristics, combined together, turn International RELATIONS realms into a scene of sacred political actions, in which Iran has the mission and transcendental duty to fight the Evils, till the final triumph. What mainstream theories find odd and somehow irrational Iranian behavior, is completely rational, understandable, and predictable via this conceptual framework.

This article is a study about the developments leading to the emergence of modern diplomacy. As borne out by history in modern times, change in global structures leads to changes in diplomacy. Erosion in state sovereignty, spread of information and communications technology, growth of non– state actors, and increase in public awareness at the global level can be considered as some of the major factors contributing to changes in diplomacy. This article argues that the development of modern diplomacy is closely related to the concomitant development in civil society on a global scale where new non–governmental organizations, lobbying groups, professional associations, and also new governmental organizations, expect to play an ever- greater role in global issues. In the authors’ view, globalization, international economic inequalities, debt crisis, environmental problems, conflict prevention, human rights issues, humanitarian aid, HIV/AIDS pandemic, population pressures, prevention of local and ethnic conflicts, migration, etc. are so complex in nature that individual nation–states -and traditional diplomacy-cannot deal with and resolve them. Modern diplomacy instead presents the necessary framework and mechanisms for resolving global crises.

Having in mind that IR theories include FPA aspect, the main purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of FPA in these theories. The necessity of this study become clearer when one acknowledges that FP makers should pay attention accurately to RELATIONShip between theory and practice in order to make successful rational decision in new complicated world. This enables them not only to have theoretical knowledge in FPA, but also extract some useful practical and policy – oriented prescriptions. In this article, through three sections, IR classic theories including Liberalism and Realism, micro, macro and middle – ground FP approaches and constructive IR theories are examined respectively. Finally the article concludes that IR theories are mutually constitutive and complementary, which means FP makers must avoid reductively relying on one of these theories.

Introduction: One of the ways to expand cooperation in today's world is convergence with the model of regionalism. At the regional and global existing order, national security of each country comes more easily through the efforts of the government and the people to obtain and increase national wealth than through the efforts to build and collect hardware facilities and create an atmosphere of insecurity, fear and threat. Scientific and instrumental elites have raised convergence in various forms to pursue any conflict occurring in Europe since the early seventeenth century. Then, international cooperation and convergence by countries and global powers has also been considered. Although the Cold War era had put regional cooperation and integration as a function of the RELATIONShip between the two dominant poles in the world, this could not prevent the formation of regional integration. Successful experiences in this regard in the eighties and regionalism and regional cooperation in international RELATIONS became a substantial and stable principle for all countries around the world.Methodology: The main research method for the importance of the subject is descriptive analytical analysis in the current situation. It has been trying to use the library data, including the important and reliable internal and external resources in the knowledge of international RELATIONS, political science, political geography, political economy and political history of Iran to prove the approach of this paper. The experts in this field try to strengthen the scientific reasoning.Results and Discussion: According to Karl Deutsch, the process of integration in a regional organization is like an assembly line which was shaped during history. This process has a central core, includes one or more of the larger political unit, more advanced, more developed and more powerful. The political and economic capabilities are decisive for the integration. The compatibility to the needs and values of smaller units is necessary to maintain integration. New regionalism, especially after promising movements of European Union was invigorated to this mutation from the nineties. At first, European countries were in the new conditions to begin the integration process. Then, this process was created in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Regionalism in non-European, third world and developing countries did not have the objectives of the integration process in Europe. Even integration in the Asia-Pacific region has not been as well as integration model in Europe. There is not capacity and necessary political will for a deeper integration and political unity in any of these areas.During this period, Iran has been able to establish eco-regional organization in cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan. But this organization has not been able to achieve economic, political and security aims. We review this issue briefly. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, as members of the ECO Treaty, tried to affix former member states of this Union and current member of the CIS to this Treaty. They were able to increase the number of countries to ten members. However, despite the importance of regional cooperation more than before in the past decade, ECO Economic Cooperation Treaty with ten members can register much success in its repertoire. In fact, from a critical perspective, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan are the most powerful ECO members. Every member follows its own especial programs. Turkey sees itself as a European country and all its political and economic powers were used for membership in European Union. On the other hand, Pakistan has also a look at its economic RELATIONS with East and West. To do its economic resources for coordination with the international economy, it is more important for the country to strengthen cooperation with Echo.Conclusion: Regionalism in international politics refers to the development of economic cooperation, political and cultural ties between governments and other actors in geographic areas. Basically, region is defined as the combination of geographical areas in proximity, the high degree of interaction, institutional framework and a common cultural identity. Accordingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran as an important and influential country in the regional strategic position in the end of the war, especially with the rise of the construction government. Although there have been some ups and downs, but the country always was faced with the approach of regionalism and regional cooperation and benefiting from capacity and international organizations, it has paid attention to this important issue. Despite these efforts in their desired goals of regionalism approach, it cannot take required advantage. Iran has especial geopolitical situation, because it is located in a location among the crises of Iraq and Afghanistan and in neighborhood situation with the Persian Gulf crisis, Caucasus and Central Asia, South Asia (India and Pakistan) as well as it is a major player in Lebanon challenges and Syria crisis. Thus, the country is active in regional and international security issues. The Islamic Republic of Iran has spent all its efforts and activities in political life for the defense of political independence and to maintain axial discourse. It seems that it cannot introduce itself like the most influential countries in the world as an actor by trade and economic approach in the issue of regionalism.

Extended abstract  Introduction Geopolitics is science of studying the interRELATIONShips of geography, power, and politics, and the actions that result from combining them. Its main difference from political geography is the combination of power with the other two elements, which makes it more different. The common point of the two sciences of international RELATIONS and geopolitics is in this common element of power, which both have a special place in the science of political science and political geography. Since the main subject of geopolitics is the study and study of cross-border RELATIONS between political units at local, national, regional and global scales, there are many similarities and closeness with the subjects studied by the knowledge of international RELATIONS, and this has caused ambiguity about the reason for the existence of two sciences, their RELATIONShip with each other and the common and specific concepts and issues of the two sciences. Among the basic concepts of geopolitical knowledge that play an important role in shaping RELATIONS between countries, the concept of geopolitical interests has a special place in theories of political geography and international RELATIONS. The concept of geopolitical interests is the assumed spatial and geographical complementarity across borders that is structurally homogeneous and functionally meets the needs and shortcomings of a country. Geopolitical affiliation forms the basis of the national interests, goals and interests of countries. Methodology The research is descriptive-analytic and data gathering procedure is based on library and field finding methods. 130 questionnaires in the form of Likert scale were distributed among professors and specialists in political geography, geopolitics, political science and international RELATIONS. Finally, 107 questionnaires were completely answered and collected. The T-test was used to test the hypotheses. Finally, the Friedman ranking test was used to examine and rank more precisely the eight dimensions of the components of geopolitical interests in Iran-Turkey RELATIONS. Results and discussion The variables of geopolitical interests in the FOREIGN RELATIONS of Iran and Turkey can be explained and divided into eight dimensions: political, geographical, geoeconomic, geoculture, geostrategy, cyberspace, science-technology and ecology. These components have had different effects depending on the geographical location and geopolitical conditions of the two countries. Based on the T-Test results the effectiveness of the components in the FOREIGN RELATIONS of the two countries shows that the components of geography, geoeconomics and science-technology have the greatest impact on the bilateral RELATIONS. On the other hand, the components of ecology and geoculture have less impact than the three other components. It should be noted that all components had an average above 3, which indicates a positive impact on RELATIONS between the two countries. The Friedman test was also used to rank and determine the importance of the components of geopolitical interests of countries (political, geographical, geoeconomic, geoculture-social, geostrategy, cyberspace-media, science-technology and ecology). According to the results, geographical, geoeconomic and scientific-technological components have the highest rank and on the other hand, habitat and geoculture components have lower ranks. Conclusions The Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey with different and sometimes conflicting political systems in the West Asian region, with a special geopolitical position in the global and regional system and interactions and RELATIONS with each other and with other countries, always create new issues that collectively provide a suitable background for the study of dynamic and evolving factors, political, economic, scientific, etc., with an emphasis on geographical realities to explain politics and FOREIGN RELATIONS. As discussed, the wide level of RELATIONS between the two countries caused geopolitical interests to appear in the eight components of FOREIGN RELATIONS. Also, since Turkey's FOREIGN policy has been constantly zigzagging and changing since the AKP came to power, and has been based on various theories such as Kemalism, Ottomanism, attention to the doctrine of the blue homeland, etc, the pattern of FOREIGN RELATIONS of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey based on geopolitical interests can be explained and studied in four aspects: interactive, competitive, conflicting and domination. The results of reliable field and documentary data showed that the competitive aspect is more visible.

Providing a well-considered analytical framework involves the inclusion of multiple variables while preserving simplicity and internal consistency. In the present article, the main question is how can we analyze the diversity of variables involved in Qajar's FOREIGN RELATIONS while preserving simplicity and internal consistency? The findings of the paper show that "dispersion of social power resources" can be the basis for analyzing Qajar's FOREIGN RELATIONS; in other words, dispersion of power resources at the community level, leads to appearance of the frustrated state structure, and Qajar's FOREIGN RELATIONS are result of both of these. Therefore, the analysis of Qajar's FOREIGN RELATIONS will involve three united phases. First, what is the principle governing the RELATIONS between social forces and government? Second, the study of the state structure and the presentation of the analytical model of Qajar FOREIGN RELATIONS, which is the result of state / society RELATIONS. Third, in discussing the history of FOREIGN RELATIONS, it is tried to expose the presented model to the historical test by referring to the events, events and documents of Qajar FOREIGN RELATIONS history.